1. Field of Invention
The present invention is directed toward flash suppressors, and more specifically, to flash suppressors having novel expansion features
2. Prior Art
All U.S. patents and applications and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Without limiting the scope of the invention, a brief summary of some of the claimed embodiments of the invention is set forth below. Additional details of the summarized embodiments of the invention and/or additional embodiments of the invention may be found in the Detailed Description of the Invention below.
When a firearm is discharged an expulsion of hot, pressurized gases occurs. Contained within the gases are particles of unburnt powder. These unburnt powder particles ignite when these gases exit the muzzle of the firearm into an oxygen rich environment. The ignition of the unburnt powder particles results in flash and sound and is generally referred to as muzzle blast. A flash of light is generated in both the visible and infrared portions of the spectrum. Muzzle blast consists of combusting gases and unburnt powder particles which exit the muzzle in a rapidly expanding cone formation.
Visible flash resulting from the muzzle blast has several adverse consequences in combat. During night time operations, the sudden bright flash of visible light impairs the shooter's night vision temporarily rendering him blind. This same sudden flash of light also designates the shooter's location to enemy combatants who will then know where to direct their gun fire, indirect fire weapons and other weapons. It is also known that muzzle blast or flash can adversely affect the usability of night vision devices, many of which shut off when exposed to sudden burst of visible light. For the above reasons it is desirable to suppress the bright flash associated with muzzle blast, and a plethora of suppression devices have been devolved for this purpose, including the flash suppressors disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,161 issued to Sommers, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,302,774 issued to Meyers.
While these referenced prior art designs along with others have achieved a measure of success, they all fall short of providing the perfect all around solution. Designs which rely on open forends are prone to becoming tangled in brush and other undergrowth encounter in combat situations. Further, having an unsupported forend creates a point of weakness that may result in a tine or prong of the flash hider either breaking off or bending in such a way as to occlude the bullets flight path should the muzzle of the weapon hit the ground or other hard surface during use. Another example is some conventional devices are not fully effective suppressors and only partially attenuate the bright flash associated with the discharge of a firearm. Therefore, a need to develop an improved flash suppressor exists.
It would be highly advantageous, therefore, to remedy the foregoing and other deficiencies inherent in the prior art.